That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

goldenboy

goldenboy

Well-known member
I have a question for everybody! Here is the story. My buddy, who is on this forum, did a quick walk across a field. I got to my truck and drove around the field to pick him up. I noticed a dead bird in the field in front of him. Went to pick up the bird and it is a hen! His story is that it flew into the power line and died. Do you believe him? Do you do an autopsy to determine death of the bird? What is the appropriate payment for a guy who shoots a hen?
 
I do not know anything about your friend's character or his recent behavior.

I have personally witnessed two hen pheasants fly into a power line and kill themselves. Both circumstances involved my father on his only hunting trips to Iowa.

The first time, I was driving the car, my father was in the passenger seat, he asked me to pull over as a group of hunters were approaching the road. He wanted to talk to them as we had permission to hunt the field the next day. As he opened the door, a hen flushed from the ditch and died when it struck the power line.

The second time was a couple of years later. We were walking on opposite sides of a narrow access road. My dog flushed a hen and it flew toward my father. I called out hen and as I did so, he shot. I turned and saw the hen drop dead in the ditch.

At the end of that push, I asked my father why he shot a hen after I called it. He said he didn't shoot the hen. He said that he shot a rooster and pulled the bird he shot from his vest.

We walked back down the road and found a dead hen with a broken neck under the power line.
 
My brothers were walking thru a overgrown tree belt surrounding a abandoned farm house. A deer jumped up and ran head long into a tree killing it self. A neighbor who was a policeman had a archery tag and was happy to tag the nice fat button buck.
My dad insisted the officer check for a arrow wound as he was sure my brother's had shot it with their bow.
 
I saw it happen in Iowa last year. I got it on video. I went to look for the bird as it was near my truck. I never did find it. May have ran off or may have fallen in weeds. Pretty sure it was a hen but it was at distance so not positive on that.
 
I haven't seen it with a pheasant but I have with a Canada Goose. As for penance(???) coyotes need to eat too.
 
goldenboy said:
I have a question for everybody! Here is the story. My buddy, who is on this forum, did a quick walk across a field. I got to my truck and drove around the field to pick him up. I noticed a dead bird in the field in front of him. Went to pick up the bird and it is a hen! His story is that it flew into the power line and died. Do you believe him? Do you do an autopsy to determine death of the bird? What is the appropriate payment for a guy who shoots a hen?
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Listen Joel, I thought we were friends. :) I appreciate the concern for wildlife and my honor, but let’s get the record straight: That hen hit the power line harder than I hit the buffet line after a long hunt. And if you’re still not convinced, I’ll start a GoFundMe for the power line’s legal defense. Case closed! ;).
 
I've seen several hens clothesline themselves on a power line. Never a rooster. Like men are better drivers, roosters are obviously better fliers. That said, if the autopsy proves it was shot, I figure $100 should keep hunting partners quiet. Each.
 
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Bob Peters said:
I saw it happen in Iowa last year. I got it on video. I went to look for the bird as it was near my truck. I never did find it. May have ran off or may have fallen in weeds. Pretty sure it was a hen but it was at distance so not positive on that.
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I remember that video
 
Hunting in Kansas one time flushed a rooster, missed it, and watched it hit the power line at the end of the field. Walked to the end , picked it up and put it in the bag.
 
Saw it a couple of years ago. I was sitting in my truck watching a group of birds in corn stalks. They stared flying across the road into a crp field and a hen flew into a power line.
 
The other day a dead rooster ended up in the farmstead from I am sure hit the power line. I picked up a beautiful lesser prairie chicken years ago that had clipped a barbed wire fence on the edge of a draw. That happens often enough that putting markers on the fence helps limit those collisions by the prairie chickens.
 
As someone else already said, I don't know NDPheasant personally to know how honest he is, but the fact that he has a vizsla in his profile pic makes me partial to him from the start... Unless you two had a standing wager or agreement that for every accidental hen one shoots, he owes the other x$, no payment necessary in my book. Accidents happen. Doesn't mean he isn't due some good natured harassment if he did shoot it by accident, though.

Also, maybe I am out of line or ignorant of the possible consequences here, but if I were to witness a hen strike a powerline and kill itself I don't think I'd just leave it laying there to rot. They eat too. If I were to get stopped by a warden, it would be simple to prove or disprove the cause of death by performing a necropsy (don't mean to nitpick, but this is the proper term for a post mortem analysis to determine the COD). Am I in the wrong here? Would a warden ticket you for having a hen in your possession if you did not shoot it?
 
ctfisher said:
Am I in the wrong here? Would a warden ticket you for having a hen in your possession if you did not shoot it?
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You'd probably have to be able to prove to the LEO that you didn't shoot it. Simply having one in possession is against the law.

On rare occasion my dog catches one alive and then it dies. I think its happened about three times in 12 years. I do not take them with me. I leave them. I'm sure they would eat just like a rooster, but its not worth the argument with a game warden for this guy (even though I've never encountered one in nearly 25 years of hunting, but that's another topic).
 
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